Safety concerns cause NHRA to limit races from 1320 feet to 1,000 feet

[EJ25RUN]

http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/06/scott_kalitta_dhl_450.jpg

Autoblog.....

The NHRA has acted very quickly in an effort to improve the safety of its Top Fuel and Funny Car races. Due to the tragic death recently of '94 and '95 Top Fuel champion Scott Kalitta, the drag strip for these two fastest classes will be shortened from the traditional 1,320 feet to 1,000 feet. Race officials and team managers believe that this compromise will continue to make for an entertaining race as the cars will still be hitting speeds of around 300 mph. This is an interim change as the sanctioning body investigates the crash and its causes, and will stay in effect until more definite changes can be made. The first race which will incorporate the new shorter track length will take place on July 11-13 at the Mopar Mile High Nationals in Denver, Colorado.


I dont think this can help that much cause i know a top fueler or a funny car is already at 280 Mph at 1/8 mile and that last bit is the additional 50mph.
I hope they can figure something quick to go back to the standard 1/4 mile.

[Sport1.3]

ghey no 1320 no care

[Ran]

Wow, talk about gay.

[redrumracer]

ummm i have an idea, how about making the lanes longer.

[patrick4588]

ummm i have an idea, how about making the lanes longer.\

x2 to that

[koukis14]

He ****ing died because there was no sand pit at the end of the track just a ****ing wall. How about longer sand pits and nets. I have seen the same accident in person where the car blew up, chutes burned up and the car went into the sand pit at 250+ mph and there were nets to catch him. Because the track at Englishtown dumps out on a highway and they have no room for that kind of safety barrier means that if they make the runs 320 feet shorter the car will be going 50 mph slower and before it kills the driver from slamming head on into a cement wall. This is ****ing stupid.

[BUGMAN]

Hm so it really should depend on if they are running at a safe track or not as to which length they race.

I have seen many crashes with proper safety stops (sand pits, nets, etc.) when the driver has walked away after going through the traps on fire, on the roof and even backwards.

I really hate hearing about anyone getting hurt doing what they love but why not fix the problem instead of trying to avoid it when you know it will happen again? I don't see 320 feet solving anything like what happened in that event.

Proper safety people!

[redrumracer]

Hm so it really should depend on if they are running at a safe track or not as to which length they race.

I have seen many crashes with proper safety stops (sand pits, nets, etc.) when the driver has walked away after going through the traps on fire, on the roof and even backwards.

I really hate hearing about anyone getting hurt doing what they love but why not fix the problem instead of trying to avoid it when you know it will happen again? I don't see 320 feet solving anything like what happened in that event.

Proper safety people!
x2, also think about this at the speeds they are going 320 is less than a second.

[Elbow]

Change the track before changing the event

[SPOOLIN]

they only changed the length temporarily for the TF classes. Ultimatly, they will have to slow them down a little or stop using englishtown, safety comes before the "prestige" of a track. SGMP is big pimpin track that is perfectly safe for any class but its on a long list of NHRA tracks that are bypassed every year for the powerade events.

On another note, no matter what facility you go to, there will always be the perfect storm to kill someone no matter how you build it. the other 99.9% of the cars at englishtown that day were stopping without issue.

[type-flaco]

all said is true but sometimes things just happen no matter how long you spend going over safety....Atleast he went while doing what he loved

[IndianStig]

Umm why not just impose limits like they do in nascar to keep the speeds down? restrictor plates>shortening a 1/4 mile.

[SPOOLIN]

i've been watching the race, the cars are so fast you cant even tell they are running 1000ft, looks like they are running 1/4. Whats dumb is that 3/4 of their parachutes don't even deploy until they are atleast at the 1320 line.

[civic95]

The real issue is having a concrete wall at the end of the track. That was just plain stupid, and should of been addressed 3 decades ago.

[SPOOLIN]

yeah but at bandimere this past weekend the sand trap was long with 2 catch nets and no walls or trees, kind of a waste at that track.

[B18c1Turboed]

I cant tell the diffrence, they are moving so fast!!! Im not worried about the 1000 feet till i hit 300MPH, until then ill run the 1320.

But i think its stupid making that change, Scott car was in trouble way before he made it too the end. I think making tracks longer shut down is alot smarter then slowing them down!!!

Live by speed, Die by Speed!!!

[SPOOLIN]

if they had gone to 1/8 mile like a select few drivers had suggested, you'd see 2 sec times and a lot of pissed off people LOL